Brown Sludge

The Unity ‘08 Concept

June 8th, 2006

A couple of years ago, I had the idea that the perfect political ticket would be what I called a “Unity” ticket. One moderate Republican, One moderate Democrat.

It was perfect. Together they could govern from the center, and rally their respective parties. The Dem would keep the Republican from morphing into Gordon Gekko at every opportunity, and selling out to corporate interests, the Republican would keep the Democrat from morphing into Karl Marx at every turn, and socializing everything in the known universe.

Together they could put partisan rancor aside and work toward solutions to the really big problems.

My friends all kind of poo-pooed the idea. Said it wouldn’t work. Said it couldn’t work. Said it wasn’t “feasible”. I wasn’t convinced. I’ve always held on to the worth of that idea.

Well, last week, I was eating lunch at one of my favorite local, independent restaurants and reading over my paper, when I ran across this article by David Broder. I almost choked on my Gyro.

Turns out I wasn’t so far off the mark after all.

There really IS such a thing as the Unity Ticket!

The Unity08 group is putting together a political party of just exactly that. Realizing how sick and tired everyone is of the corruption and bitter partisanship on BOTH side of the aisle in Washington and hoping to capitalize on a growing drumbeat among true grass-roots conservatives and moderate Democrats that sounds a lot like “third pary… third party… third party…” they have a plan to actually make it work.

They’ve got an idea that sounds really good on paper.

By removing the big ticket divisive issues like abortion and gay rights and tagging them as “worthy but not critical” and focusing on core issues like energy, the environment, terrorism, education and health care they hope to drag American politics out of the partisan quicksand that it’s been mired in for decades.

Broder makes an interesting point, and it’s one that I hadn’t thought of. He points out that if the Unity group would defy the odds and generate enough interest to worry the 2 Party Big Dogs, that they might suddenly find themselves forced to get along or be thrown out on their ears. Broder posits that the current Republicans and Democrats themselves could put up a “Unity” ticket, and have an easier time of it because of their insider connections. Interesting.

My problem with them so far is that – while having what sounds like a truly great idea and being pretty well organized – they seem a little short on specifics. I’ve combed their website pretty thoroughly and haven’t been able to find any hard core details.

It’s all well and good to say that you want to fix education and health care and address the problems with energy and energy companies in this country, but educated people want to know HOW they intend to address those issues before they’ll give the movement any momentum.

Addressing energy concerns could mean that you’re going to regulate the energy industries and enforce already in-place anti-trust laws and work very hard to move the country toward independence, or it might mean that you’re going to hire Ken Lay as your energy secretary.

Addressing health care could mean that your going to work toward solving some of the problems with coverage right now, and work toward actually helping the situation and helping American Citizens, or it might mean that you sell completely out to the Insurance Industry and Big Pharma or it might mean that you’re going to go socialized / single payer.

One of their “crucial issues” is what’s happening in China and India. Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m very concerned about what’s happening in these countries, and I’m really encouraged by Unity08’s rhetoric placing this near the top of their list. But… what do they plan to do about it. It’s all well and good to say something needs to be done, but… I need to know exactly what they are going to do about it.

I want specifics. I need answers.

Expect more posts if they provide them.

Expect the Unity ’08 concept to fizzle and die a quiet, whimpering death if they don’t.

Entry Filed under: General, Healthcare, Thoughts